The Octo-Pan - The StickyDrums HandPan

(!) This post may now be out of date - but has been left published for archive purposes. It may still prove to be of interest, but some (or all) details may now be out of date (!).

Judging on YouTube videos alone (which isn't always completely fair), at the time of writing, if it wasn’t for the fact that the ‘Octo-Pan’, is being billed as an early ‘Prototype’, there would probably be little, if anything, good to say about it. And even with that in place, to be brutally harsh, other than the fact that the maker has got off his arse and had a go at it, more than many of us have done, it’s still very difficult to think of anything positive to say about it.

Sounding like a very early Disco Armonico, the Octo-Pan, built by ‘StickyDrums’ of France, looks relatively ‘Hang-like’, being HandPan in shape. But, when listening to it sing, at best we can say that just possibly, somewhere deep within its voice, lies the spark of potential. That with time, research, and development, the maker will be able to mold into something far more satisfying.

Priced at around the $1150 mark, (on ebay at time of writing), the Octo-Pan isn’t cheap for a HandPan that lacks the refinement of its ‘older brothers’, and at that price, we’d certainly recommend checking out the likes of the Caisa, the SunPAN, and the Disco Armonico (which in our opinion, is starting to sound pretty decent these days) instead, as HandPan within a similar price range. But to also perhaps keep an eye on the Octo-Pan, and to offer encouragement to a maker who has already gone one step further towards building their own pans than most of us ever will, which you can do by visiting, and subscribing to the makers YouTube channel: HERE. Or alternatively by visiting the StickyDrums website: HERE

Because just perhaps, this is where the start of something beautiful begins.